Clearing land is not just removing large organic matter like trees and shrubs. The grass and even the topsoil must be removed as well as a large amount of soil beneath it. The soil must be removed to prevent any plants from remaining in it, while residential properties are not graded as deeply, highways and skyscrapers must be graded down seventy to one-hundred feet down to prevent the possibility of plants growing through the foundation. Even then, it still happens frequently and the costs of repair are much more than the cost of simply tearing it down and rebuilding it. This is why clearing, grubbing and grading are so important. The land must be clear of all organic matter especially seeds. Doing this requires a series of stages. First, you must remove the large organic structures starting with the trees and shrubberies. This process involves chainsaws, large two-person reciprocating saws and other types of tools like limb cutters. The trees are brought down and all shrubs are cut down. This leaves essentially a clear field full of stumps and roots of plants. All of that organic matter must be removed cleared and graded before any sort of construction can occur.
How do you get rid of all this matter?
Not with a shovel, that is for sure. You will need either a bulldozer which is a large heavy vehicle with a large solid steel blade called an S-Blade or a Stright Blade. This is used for pushing materials like dirt, knocking things down like trees walls and other structures and general moving of a large amount of material all at once. This is a vital part of the process for larger land developments but for domestic development, a bulldozer may be overkill. The excavator is also capable of knocking over trees, sheds, walls and destroying other structures. It can also do something a bulldozer cant: it can dig deep holes, and it can do so very tightly. It can dig almost straight down allowing for the creation of inlets that can be used to build structural support systems. A bulldozer cannot do this. Once the organic material has been removed along with the upper eight feet of soil the surface of the property must be graded.
Grading is the process of making the ground under the construction site completely level. On a residential property, this can often be done by eye or with simple tools like an actual leveller, make sure it’s nice and long. On industrial construction sites, grading requires separating the entire area into sections often about four by four feet and them pegging each corner. this means each section can be easily levelled based on the level of the previous square. this makes levelling much much easier for larger areas. Doing this on your residential property, properly, will result in zero pooling of water around your foundation. Grading land reduces the chances of drainage issues. By taking into account how the property slants and where the drainage should go. Down a hill to a ravine? Or into the gutter. This is all based on grading.